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'Notarios' often defraud Hispanics, officials say

"Notario publicos," purport to help undocumented immigrants navigate the U.S. legal system. But according to immigration experts and local authorities, many of these businesses mislead customers and steal their money.

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'Notarios' often defraud Hispanics, officials say

Bobby Allyn, The Tennessean
7:28 p.m. EST November 24, 2012

Some unlicensed businesses purport to help undocumented immigrants navigate the U.S. legal system.

Jose Ortiz-Bucios holds his daughter, Aileen, next to his wife, Vanessa. Ortiz-Bucios lost thousands of dollars to an immigration consulting outfit that was eventually shut down.(Photo: John Partipilo, The Tennessean)

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jose Garcia-Wisther trusted Mercedes Peralta, whom he met at a church they both attended in Crossville.

After learning that Garcia-Wisther had entered the country illegally from Mexico and was seeking residency, Peralta, who then operated a notary business, offered to assist him for $1,500, a sum the 42-year-old chef with four children paid back over several months.

Soon after, he learned that federal officials declined his immigration petition because it had been filled out incorrectly. Peralta's notary business had apparently shut down, so Garcia-Wisther's repeated efforts to recover his money were unsuccessful.

"It was a scary situation," said Garcia-Wisther in the law office of Nashville immigration attorney Sean Lewis, who is now helping him apply for a green card. "I was losing sleep. My wife could tell it was emotional for me."

Garcia-Wisther's case is not unusual, according to immigration attorneys.

As the ranks of Hispanics grow across Tennessee, so have the number of businesses taking advantage of some immigrants' poor understanding of U.S. law, not to mention their perilous personal situations.

The businesses, known as "notario publicos," purport to help undocumented immigrants navigate the U.S. legal system.

But they frequently do so without a law license. And according to immigration experts and local authorities, many of these businesses mislead customers and steal their money.

Although state laws have been enacted to put a stop to the practice, enforcing it is another matter.

"It's like a game of Whack-A-Mole trying to catch them," said Caitlin Doty, assistant attorney general in the consumer affairs division. "They operate in a changing landscape."

Mercedes Peralta could not be reached for comment.

Fly by night

Jose Ortiz-Bucios makes $12 an hour as a framer in Antioch, where he moved with his toddler daughter and his wife, Vanessa, from Mexico.

He paid a notario publico $3,500 to assist him with immigration documents. Meanwhile, the facility was under investigation by local authorities. Ortiz-Bucios, when he tried to follow up, couldn't find the owner of the business.

Ortiz-Bucios felt hopeless. Eventually, Lewis agreed to take his case.

"I was afraid to tell anyone because I was illegal," he said through an interpreter. "I was desperate and confused."

In the U.S., however, notaries are far less distinguished. Their duties are limited to certifying signatures and administering oaths.

Far too many of them in Tennessee are exploiting a nuance that gets lost in translation, said Allan Ramsaur, director of the Tennessee Bar Association, whose lobbying work in 2006 helped pass tighter notario regulations in the state.

"It's an egregious misuse of language," Ramsaur said. "We were seeing people being defrauded."

A notary not licensed as an attorney is required by state law to advertise that it cannot take money for legal advice. A separate Tennessee law bars non-attorney notaries from acting as immigration consultants.

In recent years, states including California, Washington and Utah have passed laws outlawing unlicensed consultants from giving immigrants legal advice.

Despite the law in Tennessee, notaries advertise widely across the state in Spanish-language newspapers, on the airwaves and in neighborhoods that are predominantly Hispanic, according to Doty, who said the attorney general's office has dedicated more resources to combating the spread of notarios.

"They're able to gain a certain amount of credibility within their communities, and sometimes they're charging exorbitant amounts to mostly low-income people," she said. "Many don't know any better, but we're doing our best making people aware."

The fly-by-night nature of some of the outfits, along with the fact that authorities do not monitor Spanish-speaking newspapers and radio stations as closely as their English counterparts, makes enforcement a vexing process, according to Doty. Most of the crimes go unprosecuted because the victims are often reluctant to report what has happened to them, she said.

Although he commends authorities' efforts to stamp out shady notarios, immigration attorney Elliott Ozment said plenty of cases go unnoticed.

"The abuse of immigrants in Middle Tennessee is just astounding," Ozment said. "When we take on clients who've had interactions with notarios, it takes a long time to unravel the mess that has been done."

Growing population

The battle with notarios takes place against the backdrop of more aggressive federal immigration enforcement. In his first four years in office, President Barack Obama has deported more immigrants than former President George Bush did in eight years — more than 1.4 million.

The number of Hispanics has swelled both nationwide and in Tennessee. In Davidson County, for instance, the Hispanic population doubled since 2000 to reach some 61,000 residents, more than half of whom are Mexican, according to U.S. Census figuresc.

In Nashville, that means more immigration proceedings than ever before, according to attorney Ozment. And notarios, he said, are all too ready to exploit the vulnerable as they confront that mysterious process.

Doty explained how some notarios use news events as an opportunity to spread misinformation.

"Whenever immigration news is in the headlines," Doty said, citing the Dream Act and Obama's deferred action program, "it gets twisted around by notaries to lure in more business." Ads misrepresenting the benefits of federal programs are commonplace.

Notario complaints spike during tax season, as many in the community attempt to wade through what can be an intimidating process, said Renata Soto, who leads Conexion Americas, a Hispanic advocacy group. "It's been a concern for a while now," she said.

During the past three years, the attorney general's office has taken legal action against 11 notarios, most of which resulted in judgments that effectively shut down the fraudulent operations.

But by most accounts, hundreds more notarios in all corners of the state are profiting unjustly from immigrants' desperate situations.

"People have been hopeful for change for so long," Lewis said. "But it takes a huge chunk of time to prosecute these cases because witnesses are not easy to come by."